Glossary
Sitemap List of MMORPG and Bioshock Terms (Note I will point to another site for basic info as per the original games. This content here reflects modifications/elaborations that the MMORPG would have. AE Freight - the railroad which operated in place of the Atlantic Express as freight-only after the Metro system had taken most of the passenger business in the City. AE_Mk1 - original Atlantic Express train system AE Mk2 - improved train system rebuilt midway through Raptures history AI - (Artificial Intelligence) - simulated behaviors to objects which make them appear to behave intelligently (to varying extents). This MMORP would vastly increase the use of AI for NPCs in the game. Assets - Data which defines the game BaS - Burial at Sea (DLC for BS:Infinite Bathysphere - a submersible vehicle (actually a Bathyscaph, as real Bathyspheres are NOT self maneuvering) used in Rapture for human transportation between stations in deifferent parts of the City. A higher priced transit method (versus the Trolleys and Trains). In New Rapture the system is slowly being rebuilt, but the whole system is substantially inoperable. Bio-Electronics - bio tissue based circuitry used to build complex advanced logic circuits. In Rapture, an outgrowth of ADAM technology. 'BS1' - Bioshock 1 'BS2' - Bioshock 2 Building Block '- basic components able to be assembled to make more complex things.' Ceres Green - An added City section which was in the center of the primary 'farm belt' of Rapture. The farms were mostly low cost tunnels in a good solid rock section of seabed(required to self-support structure under ocean water pressure) . It is East of Arcadia and was a significant source of food/other agricultural products and oxygen for the City. (The) Chaos - the times following the apparent death of Andrew Ryan, when much of the remaining organization broke down in Rapture. Various factions came into power. Client - the machine at the Players end. Communicates with the 'Server' located at the game company thru the internet. Is responsible for interacting with player by taking inputs and displaying output - screen, sound. For the MMORPG may also run AI for NPCs the player interacts with. (The) Cure - the elimination of the genetic mutations from Splicers to make them into ordinary humans again Fabrication - crafting/repairing of objects in the game (including parts of buildings). The entire game is based on modifiable objects, which allows more versatile manipulation of objects to the Player. Infinite - Bioshock: Infinite - the subsequent game made by the same company, which though it shares (reuses) many aspects from the previous Bioshock games, is much further into the realm of Fantasy/Magic (instead of Sci-Fi). Misuses Quantum theory Pseudo Science as a crutch to justify special effects and non-adherance to basic physics. Infinite has virtually nothing to do with Rapture, except some welded on scenes which looks more an attempt to milk the 'Bioshock' name branding than anything else. Johnny - the Delta clone who emerged from the same machine Delta had in Adonis Resort, who had his own destiny in helping start New Rapture. Subject Delta aka Johnny Topside (A Big Daddy who once was 'Johnny Topside' an outsider who Ryan had once exiled to Persephone) Lock Box Gnomes - some entity in the original games which substituted distinctive metal boxes (containing possesions of corpses) for corpses. Was a means of simplifying rendering in the operation of the game when too many corpses piled up (corpses being mutli-part articulated objects, they took up significant rendering resources on the computer). Possible employment for 'Little Brothers'. LOD - Level of Detail - method of drawing/rendering simplified objects when they are far enough away from the player that extra detail isnt visible. A type of optimization. Maintenance Cyborgs - Predecessors to Big Daddies. Mentally deranged inmates were converted to 'useful' cyborgs to do City Maintenance more effectively than Submarines and divers in Hard Suits. Mini-Game - a class of small simpler game attached to the Primary MMORPG game (particularly designed to work on Tablets and SmartPhones so the player can participate in productive ways while not able to play on their 'gaming machine'. Mission/Quest - task for player, predefined as part of the game Mk1/Mk2 - see AE_Mk1 / AE_Mk2 MMORPG MP - Multi-player - BS2 had a multiplayer game included with seperate level maps and game mechanics subset. New Rapture - the rebuilding of Rapture started by Tenebaum and Johnny (the Delta clone) being populated by cured Splicers (the) Novel NPC 'Team' - Player has some NPCs under their control to do tedious/grindy tasks, and to fill out a 'party' which goes adventuring thru the wilder places of Rapture. Object - a game entity - either passive (a chair) or active (an NPC). The entire world is created of objects which can be subject to manipulation (when most games have large parts of their terrain and many detail items in that terrain static). Only One Law - an absurd overgeneralization used in the original Bioshock games which could not possibly work as the City has been defined. You cannot maintain a societal system without a system of laws. Player Asset Creation - a system where players suppy a great many of the asset components for the MMORPG - its is well beyond modding done in other games. Player_Created_Assets Primary Construction Procedural Generation - programatically generating game data for display of scenery, props and objects and NPCs (spawns are an easy example), Behavior of NPCs (varying them so they arent all the same), Quest/Missions (creation of new quests or variations). Usual not just 'random' but more working from existing patterns with rules of how different components fit together. Can be combined with highly detailed unique building blocks that are cohesively put together but being unique dont warrant complicated programming to assemble all their details. Rapture - City at the bottom of the sea built by Andrew Ryan (the location in the games Bioshock and Bioshock 2) (the) Ruins - name for those parts of Rapture outside of the section being rebuild as New Rapture. Also refered to as (the) Wilds. Ryanium - extremely strong material used to construct parts of Rapture Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) - a concept based on adherance to systematic principals usually based on the real; world physics/logic. Systematic explanations are employed which may be based on certain assumptions which could possibly be done, but may not have been done (ie- ADAM chemical existing with effects on genetics/physiology) Server - The computers on the game company side of the internet where the World Simulation runs. Coordinates the game between the many players and the NPCs/terrain making up the simulation. These days a server is usually an extended cluster of computers to handle all the tasks required. (the) Short Line - a section of the old Atlantic Express train routes we took to traverse part of Southern Rapture in Bioshock 2.. It used the old Mk1 train equipment and track, as it was a minor line which disnt warrant the later Mk2 upgrades. Prentice Mill ran this line largely as a hobby after he bankrupted and sold out the Atlantic Express system during a financial crisis in Rapture. Hence it was one of the few passenger train lines still operating as late as the time of Sofia Lamb's departure. Skybox - the horizon view you see out of the windows into the ocean - a picture wrapped around the player that never gets any closer. in the Bioshock games they unfortunately often repeated the picture more than once instead of creating a unique 360 degree view. Closer to the player various false from buildings or seabed surface was added which though were out of scale caricatures still added some depth to the various views. Street('s) - long structures that connect some clusters of buildings in Rapture which have several storied residences and small businesses lining them. Usually with a road and Trolley in its center on the lower floor. Thus they are an equivalent of a city 'street' lines with low-rise buildings. ''Team' NPC Templates - a predefinition of data used to define and organize, may include default data The Wild - the part of Rapture outside of the rebuilding part of New Rapture (outside of City Limits). Some remote areas like Hephaestus, Neptunes Bounty, Central Computing are considered part of New Rapture. Thought Experiment - a mental analogy to illustrate and explain a concept. All ths stuff about a Rapture MMORPG is an illustration of the potential of the advanced systems you can read on this WIKI which could use a well define game genre/theme to create a better game for players The ideas could apply to creating MMORPGs for plenty of other genres/themes (and that actually would be part of the plan to defray many of the costs of developing those 'advanced system' features). Tropical Deco - a subset of the Art Deco style in cities like Miami where many new building employed that style back in the 1920s/30s/40s (do a Google Image search on the term "Tropical Deco" (Metro) Trolley - inexpensive transportation system using trolley cars seen in BS1 that carried most of the Metro passengers versus the more expensive Bathysphere part of the Metro system. . . .